You can make your own HTC One M8 Dot View case, but I wouldn’t recommend it

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HTC’s fancy new case for its flagship One M8 is bordering on brilliant, but it’s also $50 and kind of flimsy. What would happen if you tried to make your own version of the Dot View case? We decided to give it a shot to find out, and the end result was… well, just look for yourself.

It didn’t take long to figure out the basics of the Dot View case. Basically, there’s a small magnet hidden between the layers of rubber on the front flap, behind the HTC logo. There is also a tiny sheet of metal in the back side of the case. These two offer just enough magnetic force to activate a trigger mechanism in the phone that allows it to understand the case is in place and then when the case is open or closed.

After using the M8 we figured that with a $10 case from Amazon, a Dremel, and a couple of magnets it would be possible to recreate the most important feature of the Dot View Case: the pixelated glance.

While the proof-of-concept demonstrated that it is possible to mangle an existing case to (kind of) function like a Dot View, our design was still too thick to allow voice activation to work. And if we had filled the front of the case with holes then the time, weather, and calling functions would all work, just like the Dot View. As you can see that didn’t exactly happen, but with some patience and a steady hand it could be done.

It’s ugly and unlikely to last particularly long, but with the right materials you could absolutely do this on your own… and get all of the features you want out of it.

Keep in mind, everything about the front of the official Dot View was deliberate — from the size, placement, and distribution of the holes to the thickness of the front flap, which allows a swipe gesture to be detected through the material. While it’s easy to look at this product and say that $50 is too much money or that you need a case with more protection for the price, HTC clearly put a lot of thought into the design.